NARRATIVE REPORT on READING in CELEBRATION OF READING

MONTH

The sudden and unexpected nationwide closure of schools in the Philippines,

mirroring the situation worldwide, expedited schools’ and students’ use of modules and
technology for learning and forced students to rely on home resources for reading. In a
situation of forced school closure, where students lacked physical access to print resources
for reading, it is undeniable that this has greatly affected the reading ability of our learners.

To accentuate the essence of reading especially to the students, as a support to the celebration
of 2020 National Reading Month with its theme “Bawat Bata Bumabasa sa Kabila ng
Hamon ng Pandemya”, San Isidro Integrated School held various activities that aimed to
promote love for reading and to celebrate the diversity of learners and culture through
reading.

As a compliance to the nationwide simultaneous Buwan ng Pagbasa, the grade 8 Pisces

students were invited to participate in classroom reading. Since its pandemic, student’s
involvement in classroom reading is purely voluntary. Learners should present the parent
consent signed by their parents/guardians upon coming to school. Almost all students of
Grade 8 Pisces were able to participate and assessed on their reading speed, comprehension,
and level.

Based on the skills demonstrated by the learners on the reading material entitled, “Mary
Chesnut: News of Lincoln’s Assassination”, it seems that these students, in general, didn’t
develop any reading skills during the start of new normal in education. Almost all fall on
Slow, and Frustration level. Their answers on comprehension would tell you they are far left
behind with their supposed skill and level. Nevertheless, this is an eye opener and at the same
time an assessment through which we can bench mark on to come up with strategies to assess
the gap. We should be robust to address this gap to help our learners.

One conspicuous effect, though reasons may vary, is children’s lack of interest in reading.
For some, reading is not fun. In an era when instant is a trend, reading is boring. But this
should not be the case for reading is one of the fundamental skills one should efficiently
develop. Reading is important for a variety of reasons. Reading fluency is fundamental for
academic development more broadly, because problems with this skill can interfere with
students’ ability to learn other subjects as they make their way through later grades.

Reading is a key that opens all of the doors. The result therefore imposed a challenge to
me, as a teacher, on how in any way I can help my learners develop their reading skills to
the utmost.